


A knee-jerk reaction

by mayfire



Category: Disco Elysium (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Flirting, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:13:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28442973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mayfire/pseuds/mayfire
Summary: Maybe it wasn't the *best* idea for a recently sober alcoholic to go to a bar with the colleagues. But the pub is nice, the soda is tasty, and is that a hand on your knee?!
Relationships: Harry Du Bois/Kim Kitsuragi
Comments: 14
Kudos: 54





	A knee-jerk reaction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Pub and a little team bonding.  
> ~~~  
> A stolen lightbulb, bad vibes, and something weird about the legs.

**ENCYCLOPEDIA** [Trivial: Success] – It’s September 15th, around 7pm, you are in Jamrock on a social outing.

 **YOU** – A good reminder, _très_ on point.

 **ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY** [Medium: Failure] – And you know what that means, baby!

 **VOLITION** [Challenging: Success] – That you will enjoy the hell out of this outing *without* psychoactive substances in your bloodstream, thank you very much.

 **YOU** – You stand in front of a building whose ground floor glows in the dim evening light and illuminates the foggy air of the street. Your coworkers didn’t need to check if it’s the right place, so you assume it is.

  1. **[Perception – trivial] – Check if everyone’s here.**
  2. [Shivers – medium] – Breathe in the fog, hover above the pavement.
  3. Look at what this place is (Proceed).



**PERCEPTION (SIGHT)** [Trivial: Success] – Looks like no-one’s lagging behind. Judit Minot and Kim Kitsuragi walk in front of you, civilian consultant Trant Heidelstam is to your left and two young patrol officers in the back of the group.

 **REACTION SPEED** [Easy: Success] – Their names are Abel Kerdraon and Luule Toom, you sometimes see them shuffling by and in the break room.

 **ESPRIT DE CORPS** [Easy: Success] – Officer Minot has a closer relationship with them, being the same rank and sharing some of the tasks, now that you are back on the job and pulling your weight. They are new to the family but will grow to be valuable members of it.

  1. [Shivers – medium] – Breathe in the fog, hover above the pavement.
  2. **Look at what this place is (Proceed).**



**THE PUB** – The pub is situated between Central Jamrock, Grand Couron and Boogie Street, at the very heart of the district. A dingy yet well loved place, frequented by locals and visitors alike. Warm yellow light bleeding past orange and into the shadows, dancing off clinking mugs and small bowls of salty snacks. The lively ambient noise of chatter and music rushing up in a wave of laughter and receding to the sound of a new record replacing the previous one.

 **CONCEPTUALIZATION** [Easy: Success] – Like ocean waves, which embrace the old fishing village in Martinaise. Only without any unpleasant surprises washing ashore.

 **PAIN THRESHOLD** [Formidable: Success] – Not in the form of disposed militia paraphernalia or dead bodies, at least.

 **ENCYCLOPEDIA** [Medium: Success] – There are only 7 records at the pub’s disposal. The same songs repeat frequently...

 **EMPATHY** [Medium: Success] – ...Yet the patrons don’t mind, engrossed in conversation.

 **YOU** – You wait for everyone to enter the pub as Trant holds the door.

  1. **Go in.**
  2. Gesture for Trant to get in before you, like the gentleman you are not.



**YOU** – Trant being polite is nothing new, you walk over the doorstep and into the warmth of the room. He walks in right after you, gently closing the front door.

 **THE PUB** – High wooden tables and barstools take up most of the space in front of a long bar. Two pillars covered in stickers and old posters serve as additional space to hang wall-lamps.

 **PERCEPTION (SIGHT)** [Legendary: Failure] – It seemed well lit from the outside, but the lamps only provide enough to see your way around and not trip on a stool leg.

 **THE PUB** – Just to the side, a few booths with dining tables and worn, tired-looking sofas. 

**REACTION SPEED** [Medium: Success] – Just what we need!

 **YOU** – You see Judit already worming her way to a free booth, the rest of the group in tow.

 **THE PUB** – I saved this one for you.

 **YOU** – Thank you, pub.

You watch your colleagues approach the booth, sizing it up. You walk up to stand beside Kim and he nudges you with a hand on your elbow to take a seat first. Judit, Trant and Luule slide onto the opposite sofa, Kim and Abel right after you.

The ambient noise of banter, bickering, laughter, and music engulf the little corner your group has nestled into. It reminds you of the balcony of the Whirling in Rags back in Martinaise, a piece of the outer world, a glimpse of what’s to come. It’s loud, but somehow the noise softens its peaks and valleys around your chosen booth.

 **INLAND EMPIRE** [Challenging: Success] – The sofa leather is worn and rough from years of use, it absorbs and smooths the high tones and vibrations. The cushions are concave, eroded like stone, and this sofa is a bay in the sea. The vestiges of a storm, the open boiling waters never truly reach the shore here.

 **ENDURANCE** [Easy: Success] – Colourful language aside, the seat’s okay, although it *is* a bit cramped.

 **YOU** – It kind of is, you think, as your left shoulder presses into the wall while Kim moves closer to you, Abel trying to find a spot where he both doesn’t smother the lieutenant and doesn’t fall off the side. Same on the opposite sofa, the civilian consultant and the two officers huddling together shoulder to shoulder.

  1. **[Suggestion – Easy] – Disturb the lull in the conversation, ask about this fine establishment.**
  2. [Physical instrument – Godly] – Push against Kim to push Abel off the seat.
  3. Sit there like a sober alcoholic in a bar, that is, with a *very* troubled face.
  4. Play with the mug coaster.



**SUGGESTION** [Easy: Success] – You tap your fingers on the table. “So, do we come here often?” You address no-one in particular.

 **JUDIT MINOT** – Judit turns her attention to you. “Right, you haven’t been here since your memory loss,” she smiles, “have you?”

“We usually go here to celebrate work-related stuff, although…”

 **EMPATHY** [Formidable: Success] – She weighs her words, not wanting to make you feel uncomfortable.

 **PAIN THRESHOLD** [Legendary: Failure] – The “we” did not include *you*. You weren’t invited most of the time.

 **ESPRIT DE CORPS** [Formidable: Success] – At the station of one precinct 41, satellite-officer Jean Vicquemare, looking like he hasn’t slept for a month, taps a thick stack of papers against his desk, a resolute one-two as the final beat of the case. His expression is not that of pride, soured by the burden of seeing his partner, his _frère d’armes_ , in shambles. And more importantly, drunk and asleep at his dirty desk.

He looks at the officers that worked on this case too, who continued to wear the uniform with pride despite the mundane terrors of the world they all chose to keep from spiraling *too* quickly. To try to keep. They deserve some respite for a job well done. He catches their attention: “Well done, _tout le monde_. Thank you for the hard work. Beer’s on me tonight.”

“Oh, Vicky’s treating us to booze?” Satellite-Officer Chester McLaine is quick to react, he smiles, “I’m gonna get *hammered* tonight.”

“I’m buying *one* round for each, after that you can do whatever the fuck you want, McLaine,” Jean says, his rough voice not conveying any amusement.

“Are we going to that place ‘round the next street?” Asks Mack Torson after slapping an Ace’s high with his partner. Chester winces at the force of it.

“How about the pub in the centre,” chimes in patrol officer Judit Minot, having already tidied her desk and standing with junior officer Luule Toom. Mack and Chester turn to them.

“Excellent idea, Judit,” says Jean after a second of consideration. He stands and takes his black blazer, “ _allons-y_.”

“Should we wake up lieutenant Du Bois?” Asks Luule, looking at the sleeping man with concern as her older colleagues shuffle to the exit. Jean glances at him, furrowing his brows.

“Let him sleep it off, he’s drunk enough as is,” he concludes harshly, yanking his coat by the lapels, frustrated at everything surrounding his partner. “Let’s go already.”

 **YOU** – You blink the image of Jean’s sad, angry face away and sigh: “Yeah, I get it…”

  1. “...I’m so sorry for being such a fucking disaster.”
  2. "You guys are just assholes, we would’ve had *so* much fun if you’d invited me more often!”
  3. **[Volition – Medium] – “...but tonight I’m on soda duty! No getting drunk for me!”**
  4. Say nothing.



**VOLITION** [Medium: Success] – You unholster your 9mm finger guns and wink at Judit, totally cool and not an old man with a liver the size of a…

 **ENCYCLOPEDIA** [Challenging: Failure] – You don’t know what to compare it to because you’re not sure what a normal-sized liver is like.

 **COMPOSURE** [Challenging: Success] – You *are* totally cool though, great job at not turning into a pile of miserable man-goulash.

 **PERCEPTION (SIGHT)** [Easy: Success] – You notice the lieutenant on your right shaking his head ever so slightly.

 **EMPATHY** [Easy: Success] – Most likely in amusement.

 **TRANT HEIDELSTAM** – “Speaking of soda, if I’m not mistaken, this bar offers a wonderful assortment of home-made lemonades as well some uncommon imported sodas,” Trant looks at you with an excited face of a man well-versed in the particularities of soft drinks from across the known Isolas.

 **HALF-LIGHT** [Easy: Success] – His grey eyes glint in the dim light, he leans in, hands on the table, like some big smiley cat who saw a bird out the window.

  1. Cower from the soda-trivia onslaught.
  2. **Intercept the attack, close the valve before your brain is flooded!**



**YOU** – You parry with “I’ll order first and ask you about it if it’s any good, deal?”

 **TRANT HEIDELSTAM** – His smile widens a fraction and he shrugs. A deal’s a deal.

 **THE WAITRESS** – A petite woman in a black shirt with a tray full of tall beer glasses approaches your table and sets down some peanuts and tiny salty crackers.

 **PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT** [Easy: Success] – The tray must be half her weight, her arms and back must be really strong from carrying that around the whole day. 

**THE WAITRESS** – “I’ll be back with you in a minute,” she assures, already expertly dodging and sidestepping through the crowded pub.

  1. **Grab a few peanuts.**
  2. Turn to Kim, he’s also new to this place.
  3. Play with the mug coaster.



**YOU** – You reach for the small bowl full of salty peanuts and take a few into your palm.

 **HAND / EYE COORDINATION** – Hey, toss one up and catch it in your mouth!

  1. **[Hand / Eye Coordination – Formidable] – Do the trick.**
  2. Eat the peanuts like a normal person.



**YOU** – You throw a peanut in the air and watch it’s trajectory going suspiciously away from your open mouth.

 **VISUAL CALCULUS** [Easy: Success] – You won’t catch it.

 **YOU** – Oh, so *now* you’re here, and not at the crime scene, where I needed you.

The peanut bounces off your right cheek and lands on the table in front of Kim.

 **HAND / EYE COORDINATION** [Formidable: Failure] – I was *so sure* we can do this.

 **YOU** – You raise your eyes from the peanut to a hand that’s quickly grabbed it.

 **KIM KITSURAGI** – You see Kim toss the peanut right into his mouth. His face breaks its impassive façade at your expression of betrayal, a smug little dimple appearing on the edge of his lips.

“Good try,” he says, chewing your peanut.

 **YOU** – You huff and continue eating the peanuts like a normal person, not at all affected by your loss.

 **THE WAITRESS** – Just as promised, the waitress returned with an emptier tray and a little shabby notebook ready in hand. “What can I get for you?” Her voice melodic with a Mesque accent.

 **YOU** – You try to pretend the orders your colleagues place are one with the drone of the bar, but your imagination provides very colourful images of all those drinks...

 **ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY** [Medium: Success] – ...And the fuzzy warm sensation of ethanol thinning out your blood, going straight to that rotten beehive of your brain. The memories of opening up your gaping maw and drowning that disgusting, putrid body of yours in rising, rising promille. The rollercoaster of shutting off your inhibition receptors wave by wave – first you feel strong, then you are ready to be wrung out and poured down the drain. And Harry-baby, don't we *adore* that.

 **TRANT HEIDELSTAM** – You see Trant raise his eyebrows at you suggestively, distracting you from your frankly depressing thoughts for a brief moment.

 **RHETORIC** [Easy: Success] – It’s about the lemonades, you should ask the waitress about them.

 **VOLITION** [Medium: Success] – Yes! And you’ve already disclosed your task to officer Minot. We’re not taking our words back!

 **YOU** – You order one of the home-made lemonades she recommends, some flavour mix you would expect from a pie, not a beverage. She repeats all of your orders and disappears again. 

  1. Turn to Kim, he’s also new to this place.
  2. **Play with the mug coaster.**



**YOU** – You eat the remaining few peanuts from your palm, rub your hands in a criss-cross motion to get rid of the salty, oily residue, and reach for one of the mug coasters laying in a stack in the middle of the table. The rectangular cork piece has the name of the pub burned on it.

You roll each corner of it on the tabletop, using your fingers as an axle.

  1. **Turn to Kim, he’s also new to this place.**



**YOU** – “Kim,” you start, still spinning the coaster, “you haven’t been here before either, have you?”

 **KIM KITSURAGI** – Kim sits back, gloveless hands clasped in his lap, “I haven’t. It is rather nice, very well kept.”

 **YOU** – As he relaxes on the sofa, you feel the brush of his shoulder against yours. The six of you sit in very close quarters.

 **ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY** [Easy: Success] – You also feel the warmth of his upper leg along yours.

 **YOU** – Why are *you*, of all people, saying that?

 **ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY** – What? I’m just pointing out that you’re basically sitting hip-to-hip with him.

 **YOU** – Yeah, and?

 **ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY** – And you know what else can be hip-to-hip?

 **YOU** – You slap the coaster flat against the table, shutting off that particular line of thought.

 **TRANT HEIDELSTAM** – On the opposite side, oblivious to your mental detour, Trant’s hands lock together above the table. “Well, Harry, you *have*, technically. Does anything about this pub ring any bells at all?” He asks, ever curious.

 **YOU** – “Not quite,” you drum your fingers over the coaster, “I get, like… Glimpses of trivia about this place, but nothing tangible.”

 **TRANT HEIDELSTAM** – He hums, accepting your answer. 

**YOU** – “It seems to have been here for a while, so I guess it makes sense for me know it –” then you correct yourself, “have known it.”

 **ABEL KEDRAON** – “I think they refurbished the whole floor some 18-20 years ago,” you hear officer Kedraon jump into the conversation. “It used to be a smaller hole-in-the-wall kinna deal. I used to bring supplies for them as a kid, odd jobs.”

 **JUDIT MINOT** – “Ah, yes, I remember now,” Judit smiles softly, looking out to the bar, “there was a _taverne_ and some _bureau_ , it went bankrupt and apparently this pub is now where the two of them used to be.”

 **LUULE TOOM** – “I guess a pub would always find its clientele,” Luule throws you a look and immediately regrets it. She bites the inside of her lip.

 **EMPATHY** – She does regret saying it like that.

 **AUTHORITY** – So what?! Do *not* let that slide!

  1. Apologise to her now! You awful, awful scum!
  2. [Authority – Godly] – Who does she think she’s talking to?! You are her superior, Lieutenant *Double*-Yefreitor Du Bois, and will *not* tolerate that tone!
  3. **[Empathy – Medium] – She didn’t mean to jab at you, make a joke, de-escalate.**
  4. Make a surprised face: “Do you mean me?”



**EMPATHY** [Medium: Success] – You wave your hand dismissively: “They do, don’t they. I might’ve single-handedly sponsored a seedy bar or two.”

 **REACTION SPEED** [Medium: Success] – Uh-oh...

 **JUDIT MINOT** – “If it hasn’t been thrashed right afterwords…”

 **RHETORIC** [Medium: Success] – If *you* haven’t thrashed it afterwards, is what she wants to say.

 **PAIN THRESHOLD** [Formidable: Success] – BRUTAL, Judit! The _boules_ on that woman!

 **AUTHORITY** – What is this *terrible* insubordination?!

 **ESPRIT DE CORPS** – It’s banter, it’s making light of something bad, it’s coping. 

  1. It’s really high time to whip out the s-word.
  2. [Authority – Impossible] – Berate her! And patrol officer Toom! Stand up, use your rank *and* height!
  3. **[Esprit de Corps – Formidable] – Make a come back.**



**ESPRIT DE CORPS** [Formidable: Failure] – Oh, we don’t know how to respond to that, actually, this *is* an accurate assessment of how things’ve been with you.

 **COMPOSURE** [Medium: Success] – You don’t flinch.

 **YOU** – Instead you make a face, leaning your head to the side: “...Ehhh, Good point.”

 **JUDIT MINOT** – “Sorry, detective…” She smiles at you, her kind face soft in the orange light.

 **KIM KITSURAGI** – The lieutenant pats your shoulder: “Well, a good thing is, that tonight no thrashing is going to happen.” He makes it a statement, not a wish. It’s grounding, like nothing tragic has *already* not happened.

 **EMPATHY** [Formidable: Success] – He believes in it in case you don’t.

 **VOLITION** – You thank him in your head and sit a bit straighter [+1 Volition]. 

**THE PUB** – A loud cheer erupts from a few tables in the centre of the room, an Oranjese two-verse salute half-sang by a group of women and men wearing the same overalls. 

**THE WAITRESS** – Just as they finish the toast, the waitress approaches your table and sets down the tall mugs and glasses. “Here you go!”

 **ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY** [Medium: Failure] – Fuck yeah, baby! The booze is finally flowing!

 **VOLITION** [Medium: Success] – Yeah, no. Just take your order.

  1. [Electro-chemistry – Heroic] – Grab that sweaty Pilsner, buddy, what’s more pathetic than drinking soda in a pub?
  2. **Take the drink you ordered.**



**YOU** – You move the glass of lemonade towards you and sniff at it.

 **PERCEPTION (SMELL)** [Trivial: Success] – It smells fresh with a hint of something citrusy, a subtle sweetness underlines it.

 **YOU** – You are about to taste the beverage, when Trant clears his throat.

 **TRANT HEIDELSTAM** – “So, dear militia,” _oh man, really?_ “despite there being only 5 of you here tonight…”

 **ESPRIT DE CORPS** [Challenging: Success] – To the north from you, in a repurposed silk-mill, satellite-officer Jean Vicquemare holds vigil over the intercom. It jumps to life with static, through which cuts the voice of sergeant Mack Torson, giving brief, schematic overviews of what he and his partner McLaine are up to on the other side of the connection. Jean writes down their reports, mostly repeating the same sentence over and over with a new timestamp. He rubs his eyes and drags his hand down his face in one of the moments of buzzing silence – the night is going to be long. And hopefully, uneventful.

 **TRANT HEIDELSTAM** – “...We are still going to have some quality team bonding time!”

 **YOU** – You watch your fellow officers nod and raise their glasses in various degrees of tepid enthusiasm, none coming close to that of the civilian consultant’s.

 **ESPRIT DE CORPS** [Easy: Success] – Possibly because of *that* wording.

 **TRANT HEIDELSTAM** – “And my suggestion is,” he looks around the table, “to share the weirdest story from your service experience.”

 **RHETORIC** [Formidable: Success] – Wouldn’t that place you at a disadvantage?

 **DRAMA** – No, sire, it would decidedly not.

 **AUTHORITY** – Service?!

  1. “Wouldn’t that place me at a disadvantage?”
  2. “Oi, that’s cheating, I lost all my memory just a few months ago!”
  3. “I think this just might be it. A fucking, bonding session?”
  4. **You’re not going to say that, just listen on and sip on your drink.**



**YOU** – You realise you have nothing to contribute so you carefully take a sip of your lemonade.

 **ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY** [Trivial: Success] – Oooh, that’s yummy!

 **COMPOSURE** [Trivial: Success] – Yeah, now don’t wag your tail too much.

 **JUDIT MINOT** – “I like the idea,” says Judit after a brief pause. She swigs her beer, locks her fingers together and sets her chin on the knuckles.

“Who’s going to go first?”

~~~

Just as Judit set down the metaphorical cards, the few moments of pensive silence are broken by a triumphant grunt.

 **ABEL KEDRAON** – Abel jerks his head trying to gulp down the beer he started drinking before he speaks: “Oh, uh, lieutenant Kitsuragi, maybe you could tell us a story? Since you’re kinna-”

 **KIM KITSURAGI** – Kim’s head began to shake in refusal even before Abel finished the sentence. “I think I need some more time to remember a story worth telling,” his face doesn’t change expression except for a slight eyebrow twitch.

 **EMPATHY** [Formidable: Success] – He thinks most of it is rather mundane, even if he takes pride in his job.

 **LUULE TOOM** – Luule is munching on the small salty crackers as she asks “Lieutenant, how long have you been in the RCM?”

 **KIM KITSURAGI** – Kim's answer is quick: “20 years,” he sets his glass down, “give or take.”

 **LUULE TOOM** – This impresses her somewhat, her eyes widen. The horizontal lines on her wide forehead more pronounced than her almost translucent eyebrows.

 **JUDIT MINOT** – Before a pause lingers, Judit's face lights up. “Ah, _j’en ai un_!” she exclaims, sitting closer to the edge of the sofa.

“So, this case took place around 4 years ago, I was still partnered with Joseph Mills…”

 **ESPRIT DE CORPS** [Medium: Success] – Beaten to death on a call a year after… You have to have known this story, Mr. Head of Major Crimes Unit.

 **PAIN THRESHOLD** [Formidable: Failure] – *Ex*-Head of Major Crimes Unit.

 **INLAND EMPIRE** [Medium: Success] – Mr. I’m so Sad I Suffered Brain Damage Unit.

 **ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY** [Medium: Success] – Mr. I Drank Myself Into Literal Oblivion Unit.

 **CONCEPTUALIZATION** [Easy: Success] – Mr. H-

 **YOU** – Yeah, yeah, I got it, back to Elysium.

 **JUDIT MINOT** – “...-t was a rather regular call-in," you catch most of the phrase. "Grand Couron, breaking and entering,” she says it like the two sentences are physically connected.

 **PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT** [Medium: Success] – Just like a pivot and a beam make a lever. 

**CONCEPTUALIZATION** [Challenging: Success] – And crime has a long arm in certain areas of GC.

 **JUDIT MINOT** – “We arrive at this building, some _treizol_ , and climb up to the flat.”

 **ENCYCLOPEDIA** [Easy: Success] – A “ _treizol_ ” is a thirteen-story building in the residential area of Grand Couron that’s closest to Jamrock Quarter. The word “ _treizol_ ” comes from combining the words thirteen _treize_ and story _sol_. It’s a mockery of an old poster that greeted the visitors of that area: “Wellcome to _Trésor de Grand Couron_!”

 **INLAND EMPIRE** [Medium: Success] – Siblings in spirit to the more successful construction plans in the boom-years of Grand Couron, the treizols loom despair down the hill they’re growing out of. Marred with weather damage, stray bullets, and basic disregard like pockmarks, the buildings still host life. You see yourself going through a rusty main entrance door, heavy and screeching, up the dirty, smelly stairways littered with bottles, and through a thin flat door, whose neighbours are painted green or blue. You hear pans clacking, feet shuffling, food sizzling, voices booming, flowing, singing…

 **YOU** – You feel like it’s a more specific memory than you can remember.

 **JUDIT MINOT** – “The right apartment was easy to spot, with the splinters sticking out where the lock should be,” she notices sarcasm slipping into her tone, “ahem… So, we talk to the owners: Joseph going through the protocol and me noting it down. We split up and he goes to look around the building while the owners walk me through the missing items. He returns empty-handed and waits for me to finish compiling the list.”

 **ESPRIT DE CORPS** [Challenging: Success] – Joseph sits at the table in a brightly lit living room, nodding with an annoyed face as the husband and wife sitting close to each other, recall the exact events that brought them to calling the police. Judit writes diligently, seated beside the detective. His leg bounces like it always does when he’s eager to jump to the action, away from the boring parts. As soon as the chance presents itself he rises to his feet and informs of his intention to search around the premises, leaving his partner to the inventory control. Judit sighs quietly and turns back to the task.

 **JUDIT MINOT** – She drinks her beer and continues, mischief back in her dark eyes: “We look through the list of the stolen items and notice something that has caught my attention earlier as well.”

 **ABEL KEDRAON** – “Was it something culty?” Abel grins.

 **PERCEPTION (SOUND)** [Formidable: Success] – You manage to hear Trant hide a snort at that.

 **JUDIT MINOT** – She smiles: “No, at the time it didn’t even register all that weird. The owners claimed it had sentimental value for them and nothing much else.” She shifts in her seat. “And that’s why we went off to ask the neighbours, in case they’ve noticed anything in the victims’ absence.”

“It goes about as expected: no-one’s seen anything, no-one’s heard anything,” she pauses, “except...”

 **KIM KITSURAGI** – “Let me guess,” Kim fills in, “it was a suspicious older lady?”

 **JUDIT MINOT** – “Exactly, _dans le mille_ , lieutenant.”

 **LUULE TOOM** – “And did she accuse some rando?” Luule’s voice is light with mirth.

 **JUDIT MINOT** – “Oh yes, a tenant who seemed to be into *funk music*,” Judit furrows her brow mockingly, doing a bad impression of a serious face, “the delinquent type no less.”

 **KIM KITSURAGI** – Kim is nodding along.

 **EMPATHY** [Formidable: Success] – Don’t we all know.

 **JUDIT MINOT** – “Either way, we go back to the broken-in apartment and ask about their suggestions on who it might’ve been. Which brings us to our first, *actual*, suspect. A family friend.”

 **PERCEPTION (SOUND)** [Easy: Success] – You hear faint ooh’s coming from Abel and Luule.

 **JUDIT MINOT** – “We arrive at his place the next day. Another treizol. Talk to him about the burglary and he seems very surprised,” she squints conspiratorially. “*Too* surprised, in fact.”

 **DRAMA** [Easy: Success] – Overdoing is the number one mistake, sire.

 **JUDIT MINOT** – “We mentioned that weird item that had caught my attention the other night to him and he confirmed that it was just some present.”

 **YOU** – “What did it look like?”

 **JUDIT MINOT** – “By that time we weren’t sure ourselves. It was described as an artsy table lamp with a small lightbulb on top of a heavy base. A terrible description, really.”

 **CONCEPTUALIZATION** [Easy: Failure] – It is awfully unhelpful.

 **INTERFACING** [Heroic: Failure] – Why would anyone steal that?

 **JUDIT MINOT** – “That day we didn’t get much about the *lamp*,” she puts it in air-quotes, “so we went on pinning down the location of the other goods. The lamp did not appear until later.” 

“After about 2 weeks of searching a different case was started. Someone’s stole two crates worth of electronic parts from a repair shop. We’ve requested the transcripts from the interrogation and have found a familiar name mentioned as one of the coordinators.”

 **YOU** – “The suspect in your case.”

 **JUDIT MINOT** – “Yes. We rush back to him, search warrant on the ready and sure enough, find the apartment empty and in disarray.”

“We searched through it and at some point I’ve managed to find a hidden compartment in his desk. There, I see the weird lamp,” she casts her eyes down. “I still remember it was a thing that looked like a thin, small, polygonal lightbulb on a thick base, with round slots for something to attach on the top of it, and sort of… wire attachment ports on the bottom. Not far off the original description. It was much heavier than it seemed, like the plastic case was on top of something metal.”

“We’ve looked around the apartment some more, in case there were any clues on where to find the perp. Notified the station of his escape and returned.”

“Joseph has had a brilliant idea of asking the weapons technician from a different precinct about the thing, and he mentioned that it could be a part of a… mechanism he’d heard about in passing.”

  1. [Encyclopedia – Heroic] – Wait a second, now that she mentions that, haven’t you read about it somewhere?
  2. [Logic – Formidable] – What happened with the people whose apartment was burglarised?
  3. “Joseph had a *good* idea? Are you sure about that?”
  4. **[Electro-chemistry – Easy] – Before you go with the nerd options get some more sugar into your blood.**



**YOU** – You drink the rest of your pie-monade and feel the gears in your brain turn faster.

 **ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY** [Easy: Success] – Ah, great, now go on!

 **PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT** [Medium: Success] – Nerd…

  1. **[Encyclopedia – Heroic] – Wait a second, now that she mentions that, haven’t you read about it somewhere?**
  2. [Logic – Formidable] – What happened with the people whose apartment was burglarised?
  3. “Joseph had a *good* idea? Are you sure about that?”



**ENCYCLOPEDIA** [Heroic: Success] – It was mentioned in a scientific journal you were reading while high off Pyrholidon.

 **ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY** [Challenging: Success] – Possibly in a mix with something else, party-eyes.

 **ENCYCLOPEDIA** – AdERO is an _amplificateur des emmissions de la radiation optique_ , an emission amplifier of optical radiation. It consists of a tube, two plates and a light source on one end. The technology is new and remains, so far, exclusively in use of special optical laboratories. Not many people know how to make one and, most importantly, make it *work*. Some speculate, however, that AdERO is already being tested by the military, although, as with all such things, most of the speculations involve heavy amounts of conspiracy.

 **RHETORIC** [Challenging: Success] – She didn’t mention anything about a tube.

 **INTERFACING** [Challenging: Success] – Or the other pieces for that matter.

 **LOGIC** [Medium: Success] – They were smuggled in parts to somewhere, where the thing was built.

 **JUDIT MINOT** – “The thieves from the other case have confessed to had been hired by someone who they had never met. They did disclose the drop-off location, however, where we’ve managed to find more stolen electric _n’importe quoi_.”

  1. **[Logic – Formidable] – What happened with the people whose apartment was burglarised?**
  2. “Joseph had a *good* idea? Are you sure about that?”



**YOU** – “Wait, Judit...”

 **LOGIC** [Formidable: Success] – “How were the people from the burglary call involved in that?”

 **JUDIT MINOT** – “Ah, here comes the weird part,” she licks her upper lip from the beer foam, “as soon as our reports were processed, the case got transferred to the Moralintern. We have received a clear directive to not investigate further. So of course we couldn’t go back to check up on the victims.”

 **KIM KITSURAGI** – “If they were at all the victims…”

 **LUULE TOOM** – “Wouldn’t it make it weird if they were involved, to snitch on their friend?”

 **JUDIT MINOT** – “That’s what we thought as well, but alas, the case is not ours anymore.”

She finishes her story with a gentle swig of her beer, her dark eyes dancing between your faces.

  1. **“That was… kinda weird, yeah.”**
  2. [Lie] “That was so boring! *Dios mío*, I can’t handle this without *some* skimish!”
  3. “My head told me that it could’ve been part of _un adero_.”
  4. [Electro-chemistry – Godly] – Ple-e-ase call that waitress back right now and order some more of this lemonade! (Proceed).



**LUULE TOOM** – Luule nods, agreeing with you.

 **YOU** – You continue: “But like, what was the reason the MI got involved?”

 **TRANT HEIDELSTAM** – Trant taps his finger against his glass thoughtfully: “I am by no means an expert, but the lamp you’ve described sounds awfully like a part of an AdERO. And it *is*, to an extent, illegal to use it outside of a laboratory. Let alone try to build one yourself. It is quite an interesting issue...”

 **YOU** – Oh, that’s going to be a history lecture, isn’t it?

  1. [Volition – Legendary] – Listen to Trant’s impromptu class.
  2. **Zone out and observe.**
  3. [Electro-chemistry – Godly] – I’m still waiting for that yummy juice, sober-boy! 



**YOU** – You zone out of civilian counsellor’s explanation on the history of aderos and watch your colleagues.

 **PERCEPTION (SIGHT)** [Trivial: Success] – All of them are turned to him, listening.

 **EMPATHY** [Medium: Success] – Well, almost. Judit’s too polite to ignore him, and is frankly a bit curious. Luule keeps glancing between Judit and Trant, trying to hold her eyes on the speaker.

 **ESPRIT DE CORPS** [Medium: Success] – The junior officer admires her calm, patient nature. For a police officer in Jamrock, Minot truly is a rarity.

 **EMPATHY** – Abel’s eyes are wide and attentive, he has probably heard of that technology before and can finally indulge his interest.

 **PERCEPTION (TOUCH)** [Trivial: Success] – Before your head turns to Kim, you sense his leg press into yours, the sensation of proximity swallowed by the heat of his thigh.

 **COMPOSURE** [Medium: Success] – Your hands tighten on the glass and you manage to look in his direction the same way you’ve been doing before.

 **SAVOIR FAIRE** [Medium: Failure] – Sort of like a lunatic.

 **PERCEPTION (SIGHT)** [Trivial: Success] – His beer glass is nearly empty as he brings it up to his face.

 **KIM KITSURAGI** – Kim drinks the rest of his beverage not looking at you, and sets it down on the coaster. He turns his head and your eyes meet, the left side of his face catching the light from behind your booth. His lips press together in what you know is a well hidden smile.

 **VOLITION** [Heroic: Failure] – And you still haven’t moved away your leg.

 **KIM KITSURAGI** – He nods at the glass in your hands: “Was it good?”

 **COMPOSURE** [Heroic: Success] – You are distracted but manage to not sound it.

 **YOU** – “Oh, yes. I didn’t know you can make drinks that taste like pie.”

 **KIM KITSURAGI** – The tight little smile quirks into a smirk: “Like pie?”

 **YOU** – “Yeah!” You turn at Kim a bit more and smile, “Pie-monades!”

 **KIM KITSURAGI** – He hums amusedly as he looks at you, tongue running over his teeth behind closed lips.

 **COMPOSURE** [Heroic: Failure] – You feel inexplicable heat creep up your neck.

 **SAVOIR FAIRE** [Challenging: Success] – Do *not* rub your neck, god… Look, everyone’s finished their drinks, put that hand up and call the waitress.

 **YOU** – Your hand makes a jittery motion upwards and waves a little as you try to catch the attention of the waitress.

 **THE WAITRESS** – She notices you shortly and holds up two fingers. Two minutes.

 **LUULE TOOM** – “This whole secret military weapon talk reminded me of that one time back in Katla,” Luule exhales, propping her head against her hand.

 **JUDIT MINOT** – “Right, you lived there before?”

 **LUULE TOOM** – “Yes, we moved to Revachol when I was thirteen or twelve,” she looks at you and the lieutenant, “my father is a Revacholier and he met my mum in Katla.”

 **YOU** – So he was either a has-been superstar or an eternite miner. Not a lot of incentive to move there otherwise.

 **LUULE TOOM** – “I think I was… nine when I saw it. I was skying back to our communal and the snow was picking up…”

 **THE PUB** – Someone opened the entrance door and is keeping it open. It is the group of oranjese workers, all leaving the pub, still laughing with the bubbliness of good beer and a better company. The September night reaches out and licks at your skin, your body already acclimated to the warm friendly air of the inside, you sense the hair on your neck rise in alert.

 **SHIVERS** [Impossible: Success] – Impossibly, you see it before your mind’s eye. Katla. A white and grey landscape with the only indication of the border between the snow on the ground and the snow falling from the sky being rare bushes, almost black from the contrast with the overall colours. In the distance, the only indication of life is the black smoke coming from a tall lonely pipe, towering over the factory with its conveyor belts and a few boxes of machinery buildings and hangars, fuzzy with outer stairways, pipes, and thick rods of wires and tubes, moodily nestling together like eiders. Somewhere behind the eternite processing facilities – a few rows of communal housings, stocky and stoic. The wind blows noisily over the edges of the pipes, the edges of the roofs, off the walls and clattering windows, and into the pale somewhere behind acres of barren land, still frozen five meters deep.

 **YOU** – You hunch your shoulders, the base of your skull feeling hollow like a bottle-neck, imaginary wind humming a monotone tune on it.

 **LUULE TOOM** – Luule’s voice filters through the whistling: “...-e usual route. I normally went through the factory premises, but the wind was quite strong and right in my face, so I was making a curve around it.” She illustrates it by moving her hand in an arc around her glass. “About halfway there I got really tired from the snowstorm and decided to rest against one of the big metal pipes. I’m not sure where they are from, I guess there had to be a gasline.”

“At least, I thought it was a pipe. As I came closer I saw its shape was not a tube,” she makes a C-shape with her palm, “but a bit pinched on one side.”

 **TRANT HEIDELSTAM** – Trant’s eyes go round with silent realisation.

 **PERCEPTION (SIGHT)** [Medium: Success] – As apparently do Kim’s, as Luule looks at him.

 **LUULE TOOM** – “I waddled to it and did the second stupidest thing I could’ve done in my life,” she puts both hands flat on the table. “I cleared some of the snow off its side and saw letters and numbers.”

She is till looking at Kim, her nose scrunches up: “Fucked up,” she whispers loudly.

 **EMPATHY** [Medium: Success] – Kim doesn’t know what to say. The implications too heavy for him to recuperate quickly.

“Yeah, so,” she turns away from him, “I didn’t feel tired at all anymore. Was back home before I realised it.”

 **THE WAITRESS** – The last words were spoken in a rush, as the waitress from before was already approaching you, sans tray. She takes out the notebook from her pocket: “Should I repeat?”

 **YOU** – You wait for everyone to order before asking her for another recommendation.

 **TRANT HEIDELSTAM** – Trant puts his hand palm down on the table in front of you. “Can I?”

  1. [Authority – Godly] Put your hand over his: “You can not.”
  2. Ignore him and order what the waitress recommends.
  3. **Let him order.**



**YOU** – Trusting Trant’s vast knowledge, you gesture courteously for him to order for you.

 **TRANT HEIDELSTAM** – He turns to the waitress, smiling politely: “Do you by any chance have the Graadian _travná soda_?”

 **THE WAITRESS** – “Yes!” She smiles back. “In bottles. Do you want a glass or a straw for it?”

 **YOU** – “A straw, please. The funkiest you have.”

 **THE WAITRESS** – She chuckles: “I’m afraid we only have one kind of straws.”

 **YOU** – *Damn it*. You thank her anyway.

 **JUDIT MINOT** – “The Graadian _travná_ …” Judit thinks for a moment before a gentle smile creeps onto her face. “My children love it. I once hauled a whole crate of it from my trip to Mirova.”

 **TRANT HEIDELSTAM** – “Oh, Mikael loves it too! I always tell him how it’s bad to drink too many sugary drinks, but I have to restrain *myself* from buying him some whenever I come across it.”

 **YOU** – You retreat into the “no kids” team corner as Trant, Judit and Abel talk about theirs.

 **PERCEPTION (TOUCH)** – You notice with that your leg is no longer touching Kim’s...

 **YOU** – What’s up with the legs tonight?

 **VOLITION** [Heroic: Failure] – ...And isn’t that disappointing?

 **YOU** – You don’t have much time to wallow in the confusing disappointment over not being squashed into a wall by Kim…

 **PAIN THRESHOLD** [Challenging: Success] – How about slammed then?

 **ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY** – Ooh!

 **YOU** – ...as your leg involuntarily bumps into his.

 **VOLITION** – What? Oh, uh. That *wasn’t* me, it’s just not much space here, big man.

 **KIM KITSURAGI** – He puts his right elbow on the table, letting the knuckles support his head as he leans his cheek against them. “Do you remember if you have ever traveled outside of Revachol?”

 **YOU** – You consider his question, scratching your neck where the beard starts covering your jaw. Prop your head on the same arm, resting its weight on the left elbow.

 **VOLITION** – So, have we?

 **ENCYCLOPEDIA** – I…

 **REACTION SPEED** [Medium: Success] – What was that with the cold-spell earlier?

 **LOGIC** [Formidable: Failure] – I’m not sure… 

**ENCYCLOPEDIA** [Impossible: Failure] – So I assume we haven’t?

 **YOU** – You focus back on Kim: “Mmm, I don’t think so? At least, I don’t believe I’ve been anywhere in the last 18 years.”

 **KIM KITSURAGI** – He nods and says nothing.

 **YOU** – “Have you?”

 **KIM KITSURAGI** – Kim shakes his head: “No, and haven’t really thought about it much.”

 **YOU** – You look at his now familiar face. You remember him in Martinaise, a stranger in all but _Esprit de Corps_ , facing off against the racist lorry driver prick. He stood tall and stern, his voice reigning emotion like a skilled military equestrian.

 **HALF-LIGHT** [Challenging: Success] – Intimidate but don’t trample down.

 **YOU** – You remember him in the wooden dolorean church. The colourful mosaic reflecting in his glasses, as his hand moves reverently across his chest. Something curdling, that dissolves even the sound, behind his back, above the dusty planks and buckets of water.

 **EMPATHY** [Medium: Success] – It was never an option for him to leave Revachol. With her cracks in the pavement, with the bullet holes in the walls, with the boarded up windows. Treizols, and shacks, and small narrow houses, and the scorched ribs of the Burned out Quarter, the asphalt of the Industrial Harbour. He loves Her *with* Her flaws, not despite them.

 **YOU** – You want to reach out to him.

 **THE WAITRESS** – The dark shirt of the waitress appears in your field of vision.

**Author's Note:**

> I fused chapters 1&2 and accidentally deleted a comment... Which, in hindsight, should've been obvious, but alas, your boy is a dummy


End file.
